National Treasure: Drabbles of the iPod
by BG Sparrow
Summary: Music helps everything, even writer's block. A bunch of little drabbles, ten at a time, revolving around NT to relieve me of it. For the writing challenge of writing drabbles during the first ten songs shuffled on an iPod or iTunes. Hope you enjoy them :D
1. June 23, 2008

Alright, I saw this challenge recently and decided to try it:  
**_Put your iPod or iTunes Library on Shuffle, writing drabbles during the first ten songs that play._**

I know it's random, but I'm having a bit of writer's block with One More Clue but still wanted to write something NT. I have feeling I'll be doing this more than once, so it'll be multi-chapter on the dates I do the challenge. Hope you guys enjoy my random little plot bunny brain farts involving National Treasure! XD

X X X

**. Monday, June 23, 2008 .**

_1. 'Television Televison' by Ok Go_

Ben leaned forward in the sofa, staring at the TV.

"And that didn't even match!" From the kitchen, Abigail was going on about paint they had ordered or something. He couldn't care less; the television held all of his attention right now.

"Abigail."

"I mean, cranberry means cranberry, not maroon-"

"Abigail!"

"What?" she replied impatiently, walking up behind him and falling silent. "Oh. My. God."

On the screen was a picture of Ian Howe.

x x x

_2. 'Irish Party in Third Class' by Gaelic Storm (Titanic Soundtrack)_

Riley was maybe a fourth of a percent Irish blood, but that didn't mean he couldn't embrace it on St. Patty's Day. He found himself in his favorite bar with his friends drinking and being loud as the music around him pulsed and the drinks kept coming. He was hammered in no time. A blonde woman sat down beside him at the bar.

"Hey!" he shouted at her. "Let me buy you a drink!"

"That's okay-"

"I insist!" He could barely hear himself over the music. "You're hot!"

"Riley!"

He stared at her. "How do you know my name?"

The woman grabbed the neck of his shirt, bringing him inches from his face with a stern glare. It took him a moment, but he started to laugh stupidly.

"Ohhh… Hey Abs."

x x x

_3. 'The Trail We Blaze' by Elton John_

"Look on the bright side," Ben tried, looking back as Riley struggled to keep up in exhaustion. "At least it's not-"

"Don't say it!" Riley yelled terrifically. "The car already broke down and map is destroyed. We're in a mess as it is, and you wanna go and say 'at least it's not raining.'"

At this, a loud clap of thunder sounded. Riley and Ben looked up from the dirt road they followed as it began to quickly dot with rainwater. Ben held in his laughter as he looked back at Riley's blank face.

"You said it," he said, continuing on.

Dejectedly, Riley simply sat down in the middle of the road and let the rain soak him through.

x x x

_4. 'Talk Dirty To Me' by Poison_

Riley never lusted after any girl more than he did Alicia Spedwick in junior high. She was the goddess of all things glorious, beautiful, and Miss America. And she was finally single.

He was taping a note to her locker asking her to sit with him in lunch since he wasn't brave enough to ask her to her face when Bryant McKinney came by. The all-around school bully and tallest kind in the eighth grade, Bryant opened the locker without a word and shoved Riley inside painfully.

"Bryant!! LET ME-!!"

Suddenly, the locker opened again. Only it was Alicia Spedwick with his note that fell to the floor in hand. He looked horrified and shocked beyond words.

The amazing thing was, she didn't.

x x x

_5. 'Come Back Evy' by Alan Silvestri (The Mummy Returns Soundtrack)_

Ben heard the gunshot, but he didn't feel it; he felt the panic in Abigail's voice stab him in the ribs before he pulled his hand away to see the blood smeared over it. Staring at Ian, he dropped to his knees and fell forward.

He was numb.

Riley attempted to punch Ian but was knocked unconscious by the butt of the gun. One of his men kept Abigail rooted from running to his side as Ian approached him.

"Pity you still haven't mastered the ability to cooperate with those who need you to the most," he spat. He bent over as Ben shook, taking the envelope from within his coat. "Better luck next time."

x x x

_6. 'Wish We Had More Time' by Trevor Rabin (Get Smart Soundtrack)_

As the mourners leave, he remains, staring at the two symmetrical rectangles littered with roses as if they are an illusion, a trick of his mind. He wants to switch the letters around on the tombstone so that it reads different names; names of strangers, not names of his friends. The shock has long-sinced numbed him as opposed to the flurries swirling about in the wind and the frozen ground he stands on. The frozen ground that encases them. He wants to keep them warm forever.

Riley's thoughts drift back to the hospital, where a seven-pound, four-ounce miracle is sound asleep and oblivious to the chaotic tragedy by means of its entering the world.

x x x

_7.'Strange and Beautiful (I'll Put A Spell On You)' by Aqualung_

Accidently-on-purpose, Riley kicked Abigail under the table. She looked up, giving him a look that would kill the dead a second time. He chanced a humorous smile as he took another drink of his wine; he took guilty pleasure in making her look evil.

"What?" she asked. Suddenly, a sharp pain dug into Riley's leg, and he bit the cloth napkin to stifle his howl of pain from her returned kick. She smiled devilishly. "Is that all you got?"

Riley didn't reply. He fought back tears of sensitivity as Ben came back from the restroom, taking another drink immediately.

x x x

_8. 'Bad Day' by Daniel Powter_

Ten-year-old Benjamin Gates sat on the couch looking at the Templar book with a sudden lapse of interest. His grandfather, John, came back into the living room with a pile of grilled cheese and two cans of soda, curious to see why his grandson looked so distraught.

"Benjamin? What's wrong, son?" he asked gently, sitting down beside the boy.

Ben sighed and didn't look up from the book. "Mom's leaving us."

x x x

_9. 'The Magic Spirit' by James Horner (Bicentennial Man Soundtrack)_

"DAAAAAAAAD!"

Riley promptly threw his controller mid-air and fell to the floor, not sure if he was more stunned that he did so or that he had the lungs to scream like that.

"Jesus, give me a heart attack," he mumbled, climbing to his feet and running upstairs. He flicked on the bedroom light to see his son holding a flashlight on the wall while clutching a blanket close. "What?" he panted.

"Spider!!" the boy screamed. "SPI-!!"

The eight-legged creature scaled the opposite wall as he continued to yell, and Riley bravely stepped forward, took a plastic toy cup of sorts, and trapped the spider. His son kept yelling until Riley tossed it out the window with a sigh.

"There. Better?"

The boy nodded timidly. Riley yawned.

"Back to sleep, bud. Goodnight."

"Night. Thank you."

Riley chuckled to himself as he shut the door and headed back downstairs.

x x x

_10. 'Falling Slowly' by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová (Once Soundtrack)_

Abigail sat on the floor in dismay. There was a soapy, wet mess that would sparkle when it dried has Ben not just come running in and slipped, crashing unceremoniously to the floor. She just sat there aminute and watched him groan about his hip, lamenting the condition of her day's hard work.

"Abigail? Help me up," Ben said.

For some reason, a calm anger made her grab the full bucket of dirty water and throw it on him. He sputtered more, she remained indifferent.

"What was that all about?" he asked. Silence. "What, you're not gonna answer me?"

"Nope," she said.

"Fine."

Ben sat up, grabbed the sink hose, and sprayed her.

She fumed.

Then, unmistakably, her lips upturned into a traitorous smile.

**. Please Review .**


	2. June 26, 2008

**. Thursday, June 26, 2008 .**

_1. 'Reflections of Elijah' by James Newton Howard (Unbreakable Soundtrack)_

Riley pulled the car up to the front of the high school as Ben leaned out the passenger window frantically. To their relief, the spotted her there on the front stairs; her hair was falling out of its lovely style, her lavender prom gown bunched up around her. She looked up, quickly running towards the car.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Ben asked quickly. "Why'd you call? Where's your date?"

"He left me."

The girl cried silently before her father, and Ben reached out and touched her arm soothingly.

"Come on," he said, opening the back door for her. "Let's go get pancakes."

"Now?" she questioned uncertainly.

"Yeah," Ben said. "IHOP. You, me, Riley. That's ten times better than prom."

At the restaurant, she smiled as a plate of pancakes was set in front of her with a whipped cream smiley face. She realized then what it really meant when someone loved you.

x x x

_2. 'Loved Ones and Leaving' by Nicholas Hooper (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Soundtrack)_

"Mom, it's college," Riley sighed from the sidewalk in front of his new dorm. "Calm down."

Riley's mother gave him a watery smile and tight hug regardless. He'd lived at home eighteen years, and now he was staying in some strange building with a bunch of hooligans out to taint her son.

"Got everything?"

"Yeah, Mom."

"Books?"

"Yes."

"All your clothes?"

"Yeees…"

"Oh! Here!"

She ran back to the car and came back with a pumpkin pie and handed it to him. His expression went from annoyed to happily surprised. His face softened as he hugged his mother back.

"Thanks, Mom."

"You're welcome, honey."

"I'll call in a few days."

"Okay. And be careful going up the stairs! Your shoelace is untied!"

x x x

_3. 'Iron Man' by Ramin Djawadi (Iron Man Soundtrack)_

Ian backed up to the edge of the roof, Riley limp with a gun to his temple. Ben watched with anger coursing through his blood at Ian's sickening laughter, that laughter that only made him want to tear his throat out.

"How is it," Ian asked, "that you always end up on this side of the gun?"

"I'm not assertive enough," Ben said. "But it's time I should be."

Ben walked right up to Ian and punched him square in the face. The gun fell into Ben's hand as Riley dropped to the cement immobile. Ian ran his sleeve under his bloody nose and looked up the barrel at his own gun, never more terrified of Gates in his life.

"Ben…"

"I'm not you, Ian," he said. He pitched the gun off the roof, pulling Ian to his feet roughly. "Let's go."

x x x

_4. 'High School Never Ends' by Bowling For Soup_

Abigail stopped in her tracks in front of the Jefferson Memorial and stared at a face descending the stairs. Unfortunately, she stared too long and attracted the very eye of the person she was trying to avoid.

"Hey! Hey, wait! Abigail!"

She sighed as the man bounded down to her in the same thick glasses he had worn the day he asked her to the football games week after week.

"Hello, Willie."

"Hey, Abigail! Wow, you look great! But you always did."

She smiled at his compliment she received day after day from him. "Hmm. Thanks. You haven't changed a bit, either."

"So, I was here for a conference," he said quickly, "but I'm free for the next few hours. You wanna get lunch?"

"Actually-"

"Hey."

Ben came up behind her and gave her a kiss, seeming not to notice Willie Kingsford at all. Abigail gave him a sympathetic smile as Ben pulled her away to go eat. The man in the thick glasses smiled grimly, heading as far away as possible.

x x x

_5. 'Tinkerbell' by James Newton Howard (Peter Pan Soundtrack)_

Riley wandered away from the campfire and his loud, rowdy friends he had somehow agreed to spend five days with in the Rockies. He walked up to one of the girls that had come with them who was examining something in her cupped hands.

"Hey," he said gently as he approached. She smiled.

"Oh, hey."

"What'cha looking at?"

She laughed. "Oh, fireflies." She let the little bug fly away as many more seemed to dot the landscape before their eyes. "I used to have contests with the kids on my street as to who could catch the most in one night. I usually won."

"Fireflies, huh?" Riley asked. "Hardly had any in the city." He let one of the glowing bugs crawl on his index finger, touched it to hers, and it crawled across the bridge they had made. They smiled at one another shyly.

"So how many can you catch?"

x x x

_6. 'Bailamos' by Enrique Iglesias_

"Come on," Ben said, heading back towards the main market street. "We have to get to Madrid in two hours."

Riley and Abigail followed faithfully, but Riley stopped on a dime at the sight of the girl tending a spice tent. He smiled in her direction, surprised to see that she returned it. It only encouraged him.

"This way," he heard Ben say faintly. He stepped up to the front of the tent still staring openly. Suddenly, a large burlesque man broke his beam of eye contact.

"Can I help you?" he growled. Riley smiled.

"Yeah, do you know her?" he asked, pointing to the girl around him. "What her name is?"

"That's my daughter."

Riley's face fell, and he backed into the street. "Erm… right." He broke into a run without a look back. "Guys! Wait up!"

x x x

_7. 'A Faithful Meeting' by James Newton Howard (King Kong Soundtrack)_

"Where is he?" Ian asked impatiently, checking his watch for the fourth time. Ben squinted into the midday sun across the Washington reflection pool, not so worried.

"He'll be here. The guy might seem like some kind of undergraduate, but I'm telling you he knows his stuff."

"Yes," Ian droned, "telling time aside."

"Hi, Mr. Gates, I- Oomph!"

Ian turned around right into this funny little mop of hair in a suit, jumping back as a hot swatch of coffee dowsed the front of him. Riley Poole stared at it horrified.

Baaaaaaad first impression.

x x x

_8. 'Better' by Regina Spektor_

Ben remembered once that his mother always wanted him to learn to play the piano, saying it would enhance his learning abilities. He never practiced, though. Never. Until one day, Emily was sick and spent the day on the couch. Thinking it would make her feel better, Ben sat at the piano beside the couch and tried to play the only song he knew.

So most beginners knew 'The Entertainer,' but it was a huge feat just to remember the opening for Ben. His mother looked up as he stumbled over the notes and chords slowly, picking up pace until he got the tempo going. With a flourish, he finished the song, looking over at his smiling mother timidly.

"Ben! That was great, darling!" she said.

"I wanted you to feel better," the boy said. Emily smiled tenderly.

"I feel ten times better," she assured him.

x x x

_9. 'Ain't No Easy Way' by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club_

"Ever ridden a horse?"

Riley laughed. "No. It's not something I typically did after school o had the aspiration to do."

Ben climbed on a brown mare, waiting for Riley to mount his own horse while keeping his hat from falling off his head. Ben stared at him, unable to see how it was that difficult to get on a horse.

"Riley, one leg over the horse," he said. "That's it."

He still managed to find trouble even in that. Ben sighed and was ready to get off and help him when Riley shouted triumphantly.

"Yeah! Hi ho, Silver! WHOA!"

The horse started galloping away from the fence. Ben raised an eyebrow, kicking his horse in the side.

"Well that's one way to do it. Yaa!"

x x x

_10. 'Fog Bound' by Klaus Badelt (Pirates of the Caribbean Soundtrack)_

"Dad, pirates exist, right?"

Patrick looked up at his son's question. The boy stared back expectantly over his plate of spaghetti.

"Not anymore," Patrick replied. "They used to."

"Yeah, because they hid treasure and their ship sunk that people find now, right?"

Patrick swiveled spaghetti on his fork. "Eat your food."

"But they still exist? People find their gold?"

"Ben, no more talk about treasure. It's absurd," Patrick said. "Now finish or we aren't going to see your grandpa tonight."


	3. July 6, 2008

**I wrote these yesterday but couldn't post them til today. Also, apologies for not posting the next chapter of OMC on Friday. Independence Day had me going like crazy, plus I had a huge episode with how to organie and write this one part of the chapter, so it was incomplete. There will be a post this Friday to come, I promise! Enjoy!**

* * *

**. Sunday July 6, 2008 .**

_1._ '_You're Sensational' by Frank Sinatra_

"Frank Sinatra?" Abigail laughed. "Really?"

Ben smiled and took her in his arms in the living room, bringing a slow dance out of thin air. "What's wrong with the classics?" he asked.

"Nothing. I just didn't know you had an ear for him."

"I don't really, but I learned that from my grandfather. Playing Frank Sinatra lets a woman know you've got class."

Abigail gave him a look of humorous skepticism. "That's it, huh? I just thought I dated lots of guys that listened to him. I thought you were different!"

"I am different," Ben said. "You married me." Her smile made him glow. "Happy Anniversary."

_2._ '_Davy Jones' by Hans Zimmer (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest Soundtrack)_

Riley sat up. His head was throbbing, his arm was twisted funny. He looked at the shattered glass of the windshield and then over at Ben who was cutting through his seatbelt with a box knife. Not caring where he got it, Riley nudged him.

"Get mine, get mine," he said, sitting up awkwardly with his arm. Ben nodded and reached over, and a flame suddenly lit up on the other side of the windshield. Ben ad Riley exchanged looks before desperately sawing through the seatbelt and diving out of the car.

_3. 'Bunnies' by Trevor Rabin (National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets Soundtrack)_

Line it up... Make sure it's straight… No!

Riley scrunched up his nose at the other end of the table from where Ben ate his bowl of cereal indulged in the newspaper. Quite bored, Riley had taken to finding other used for the leftover Easter candy other than eating it; he positioned one of the purple Peep rabbits upright between the table and his index finger ready to fire. He squinted his eye shut for a perfect aim, did his own mini countdown, and flicked the rabbit.

It went airborne surprisingly high. To Riley's amazement, it landed right in Ben's bowl, splashing milk on him. Ben looked up wordlessly. Riley smiled and pointed at the bowl.

"That… was cool."

'_Hanging by a Moment' by Lifehouse_

Abigail flattened her dark dress a little more before she felt confident enough to leave the restroom. As soon as she did, Riley popped up from around the corner, scaring her.

"Riley, what are you doing?" she asked impatiently. Riley ignored her and extended a glass to her.

"Nog?"

"No, thanks," she said, heading for the bar. "I want something a little more potent."

"Potent?" Riley raised his eyebrows and followed her. "Did I mention the nog was spiked?"

Abigail stopped abruptly and turned around to face him. He looked thrown off entirely.

"What's in it?" she asked curiously.

"Egg," Riley said slowly, "and… nog."

_4. 'Petition Denied' by James Horner (Bicentennial Man Soundtrack)_

'Ian Howe, I find you not guilty-"

The court room went into an uproar, but Ben could only hold his head up with his quaking hand in denial of the words. The judge hit the gavel a few times before overriding them again with his decision.

"-Not guilty in regards to the death of Riley Poole for lack of substantial evidence. Case dismissed."

The final strike of gavel knocked the wind out of Ben and Abigail both. They looked over as Ian rose from his chair with his lawyer, catching the man's sickening wink on his way out.

_5. 'I'm Not Okay (I Promise)' by My Chemical Romance_

Andrea gave Riley a level look as he doubled over from his run. She continued to read her book.

"What do you want?"

"I'm… I'm sorry I… forgot about last night," Riley said. "I was studying for SATs for this morning and got obsessed with how bad my future would be and lost track of time."

"You left me in a drunkard town! You couldn't put your computer down long enough to come get me?!" she asked. "Instead my boyfriend forgets me and I get to ride back with Nelson Rutherford from the towing company!"

"I'm sorry!" Riley said. "I'll make it up-"

"Don't bother." Andrea got up and walked away, eyes never leaving her book.

_6. 'Strawberry Fields Forever' by The Beatles (Love Album)_

Abigail finished putting the sliced strawberries on the top of the cake in rows, touching a few to move them in line with the others. She smothered over the blueberries in the corner of the flag cake 

with a spoon to make it nice and even, proud of her work. The white fondant stars came next, and oh, it looked _perfect._

An hour later, after finishing some laundry, Abigail came back to put the 'Happy Independence Day' writing on the sides of the cake. But when she opened the fridge, a large chunk was missing from the bottom left corner. She stared, then screamed.

"BEN!"

_7. 'Hurley's Handouts' by Michael Giacchino (LOST: Season 2 Soundtrack)_

"Ben? We need more ketchup over here," Riley said, manning the condiment end of the hot dog table. Ben handed a woman two hot dogs on a plate with a smile before giving Riley a large ketchup jug.

"Out of mustard, too?"

"Not yet. Mayo's getting low, though." After a few more people went through, Riley wiped up some stray squirts of ketchup and asked Ben, "How'd you get us into this one?"

"What do you mean?"

"Free Hot Dogs? What's wrong with the classic Spaghetti Dinner?"

Ben looked at him. "It's August, Riley. Do you want to sit down in a hot room and eat spaghetti, or would you rather sit outside and eat a hot dog?"

"Is it raining outside?"

"No, it's just like this," Ben assured. Riley shrugged.

"Eh. Next time, we do the best of both worlds and make meatball hoagies. Suggest it to The Man. He might agree."

_8. 'Shadowplay' by The Killers_

Ben stood in the doorway of his old apartment, watching the movers, Riley, and Abigail shuffle boxes of his belongings towards the door more. Abigail nudged him with a box, bringing out of his reverie.

"Look out," she said with a smile.

"Oh." He stepped aside, immediately picking up a box himself. Abigail shook her head as she left. Ben gave the room another longing sweep. He was ready to move in with her in a heartbeat, but this had been his own for almost thirteen years.

"Aw, Ben, come on," Riley said, walking by. "Are you getting nostalgic?"

"Kind of," he said. "While moving into a house of meaningful and historical amenities, I will miss the couch."

Riley looked over at the ratty thing, remembering how he'd often slept there after a night of long work. The pizza stains were mostly his fault, too.

"She's making you leave it, huh?"

Ben nodded. 'Yes." Riley walked away.

"Watch yourself, buddy. All women have joined the Dark Side at one point in time."

_9. 'Details' by Robert Downey Jr._

Abigail and Riley spent the long autumn afternoon raking up the thousands of leaves that littered the yard. Abigail sighed as she finished a particularly large pile, leaning against her rake. She turned around to yell for Riley about taking a break when a handful of leaves was thrown right in her face.

"Riley!" she shouted in surprise. What she meant to come off as anger dissolved into a smile. "What are you doing?"

"Come on," he said, nodding to the leaves. Abigail's face fell, and she shook her head.

"No, I just raked those up."

Wordlessly, Riley grabbed Abigail by the waist, lifted her off her feet a little (all the while enduring her protests), and dove into the giant cushion of golds and reds. They sank halfway down, pushing aside leaves to see the clear sky again. Abigail looked over at him incredulously, but he threw more leaves at her. She returned fire.

In five minutes, it looked as if they had done nothing at all that day, but they didn't seem to mind.

_10. 'Short Skirt Long Jacket' by Cake_

Ben was never one for the marching band, but ever since he had spotted Katherine Gembor playing a bassoon in the streets of the Thaksgiving parade, he knew he had to meet her. Besides, everyone was prettier than those band uniforms and white plumes on their hats made them look.

At the next football game, after the halftime show, Ben caught her at the edge of the bleachers and asked her out.

"Bassoon in a marching band?" he asked with interest over dinner the next night. "I've never seen that."

"I've never seen a history geek go for a band geek," she laughed honestly. "Do you know anything about music?"

Ben shrugged. "I took piano lessons a few times when I was younger, but that's it. Do you know anything about history?"

She laughed timidly. "Not much. Just that… it's a study of old things."

Ben looked at her strangely as she took a drink. They would never see eye to eye.

**. Please Review .**


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